RESEARCH EDUCATION AND TRAINING CORE A. Specific Aims The specific aims of the Research Education and Training Core (RETC) are to: i) create and maintain a coordinated effort to address educational, health, and economic disparities throughout the Texas A&M University System, 2) train new generation of scholars in health disparities, 3) enhance literacy on health disparity issues for undergraduate and graduate students, 4) disseminate state-government policy and practice guidelines to design, implement and evaluate community based health disparity programs, and 5) communicate best practices. These specific aims will be met through a series of distinct, yet interrelated projects as outlined in this section. The purpose of the RETC is to expose current and potential research investigators to a transdisciplinary approach to health disparities research. The Center for the Study of Health Disparities (CSHD) and the Center for Community Health Development (CCHD) have the resources to substantially improve the scientific community's understanding of health disparities issues, effectively train practitioners and researchers, and to increase the success rates of health promotion and disease prevention efforts. The eight research education and training core activities outlined in this section below meet the designated specific aims and clearly articulate with the five major objectives of Project RFA, which are to: 1. Advance the science directed toward reducing, eliminating, or preventing health disparities 2. Accelerate the discovery of new interventions and expand the utilization/adaptation of existing evidenced-based interventions for preventing, reducing, or eliminating health disparities 3. Increase the number of researchers and professionals from health disparity populations trained in biomedical and behavioral research 4. Increase the quality of the training provided to biomedical and behavioral researchers and professionals conducting research on health disparities 5. Increase public trust, the dissemination and utilization of scientific, and health information relevant to health disparity populations The eight interrelated core activities for this application build on the successful initiatives of the CSHD in their funded R24 grant. These core activities include the following: 1. Establish and support a Texas A&M University System Institute on Educational, Health, and Economic Disparities (IEHED) 2. Establish a Student Health Disparities Training Initiative 3. Research Seminar Series 4. Distance Education Health Disparities Course 5. Health Disparities Certification Program 6. Pipeline From Prairie View A&M University to TAMU 7. Faculty/Student Health Disparities Research Mini-Grants 8. Theme Issue on Community Participatory Research Skills for Health Disparities Researchers and Practitioners, published in the American Journal of Health Studies. Figure IV-i depicts the articulation of the eight core activities proposed in this application with the objectives of the project export initiative. These relationships will be discussed in greater detail in the body of the texts that follows.